Estes Park News

Fasten your seatbelts — and ride in a car that is unsinkable; town plans to help in the future

By Juley Harvey

Trail-Gazette

Posted:
03/14/2013 06:33:21 AM MDT

A large, car-eating hole, one of many, await passers by along Dry Gulch Road on Thursday. Winter, even a mild one, takes a toll on roads around Estes Park. (Walt Hester /)

Motorists who regularly try to commute on Dry Gulch Road are taking their cars' lives in their hands.

Residents at the mayor's monthly coffee chat last Wednesday asked whether there isn't something the town can do about the car-eating potholes in that area. Although pot as a substance may be becoming legal now, residents object to the potholes that they say taking potshots at innocent travelers.

Resident Sandy Osterman especially panned the potholes she attributed to construction around the Sombrero.

"You can lose a large car in there," she said, to laughter, at the informal gathering at the senior center.

Who should we call? she wanted to know. Pothole-busters?

Town administrator Frank Lancaster said he would follow up on the problem. As for the recent construction, the contractor has to repair the road to our standards, he said. We need to get our street folks out there, to make sure that gets done properly, he added.

As for Dry Gulch Road itself, Lancaster said it is the number-one fixer-upper on the town's schedule. However, don't look for help this summer. The town is banking about $450,000 to add to the pot (and detract from the pothole) next year. In 2014, residents can hope for some respite, when enough money will be in the town kitty to make road improvements then. Lancaster said we can't go wto years with big holes and losing cars in them daily.

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Mayor Bill Pinkham told Osterman that, until then, we will know where to look for her, should she not show up for work.

Asled about the planned improvements for Dry Gulch and whether there will be a sidewalk, Lancaster said there is a wide enough shoulder there for at least5 a curb and gutter, if not a sidewalk. The design is not done yet, he added. Whatever improvements are in the works are planned to extend out to Good Samaritan, he said.

That prompted another resident to ask about the dangerous area along Moraine Avenue and the river, where pedestrians travel constantly.

"I live on Davis Hill," the resident said. "I observe a lot of people walking along Moraine Avenue along the river — toddlers and traffic. It's a hazard. Can Riverwalk be extended out to Marys Lake Road?"

Pinkham said that issue comes up regularly, and CDOT is involved. It's not a quick fix and the town is looking at a master plan for that area, he added. Saying he bikes that route frequently, he agreed it's dangerous.